Only a week after the German GP the paddock got back on the road and headed east. Setting up over the last couple of days in Hungary at the under-inspiring Hungaroring. Certainly one of the more underwhelming events on the calender - a world free where overtaking and entertainment are long lost concepts mired in the dusty wastes of the circuit.
However all is not lost - throw in some rain and the Hungaroring can come alive, arisen from the mediocre crater of tedium and into the realm of unpredictability as so perfectly demonstrated in 2006, where Button opened his winning account. On the other side there is the probability of that actually happening, which is very unlikely 06 was the only wet event in the entire history of having the Hungarian GP - so I wouldn't be holding out for that to become a possibility. Forecasts so far are predicting normal dry conditions with fairly warm temperatures.
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| Credit to the FIA for the track map |
The Track
It is one of the several traditional European venues on the calender following the likes of Barcelona, Silverstone and Nurburgring so far this season. Like each of those circuits Hungary has not been spared the layout modifications that the others have endured. At least here there certainly was a case for the changes to be made unlike in Silverstone or Nurburgring. The Hungaroring has gained international infamy throughout the motor-racing world as a venue that offers dull, processional events through a combination of its layout and track conditions. That was the reason things were changed in 2003 to try and alter that stigma pinned to the track - and have those changes made any improvement over the past 8 years. In a word. No.
Any modifications that have been made to the circuit have been counteracted by the development of the cars that race upon it - relentless levels of downforce prevent cars from running close to each other in the flowing corners. The built in overtaking zones were made useless because the cars were running too far apart for any progress to be made. A track that is quite enjoyable to drive as one corner leads right into the next allowing a rhythm to be built up but unfortunately does tend to result in rather tedious racing, to the extent where in the days of James Allen as commentator they were struggling to cover the event. But that might have just been Mr Allen's fault.
With downforce decreasing in recent years and the amount of pitstops forcing drivers to make places count on track has seen improvements. A degree of desperation creeps in as they know they can't just wait till the next round of stops to get the overtaking done as a result some rather optimistic and often deranged overtaking efforts. Which last year a significant proportion involved Michael Schumacher who was having that kind of a season - and has shown signs of the same again this season...
So what does the Hungaroring look like from the ground -from the cockpit of a slightly out of date American racing car painted in a lurid yellow paint scheme - well that can only mean it's the turn of the Blogmobile and this week's video. Although on the times of the Blogmobile are considerably slower than the times we'll see over the course of the event, unless you are watching a GP2 race whenever eurosport decide it's a good time to consider showing it. Looking somewhere in the range of 9s off the pace of the sub 1:20's likely in qualifying.
Being a track with a high downforce requirement it would appear on the surface that it is going to favour the Red Bull cars again especially through the middle sector, but as we have seen over the course of the previous two races that may not bee the case. Both McLaren and Ferrari have claimed recent wins over the blue machines in the last two events and will perceivably remain very close here in Hungary - whether they'll get past here is a completely different matter.
Outside of division one the completion will be just as close even though Mercedes have begun to place a small gap between themselves and Renault Squadron. However they don't have division two all to themselves Force India and Sauber remain close in behind taking positions and points away from the top five teams should they not find optimum pace or drop the ball along the way. And just behind them Torro Rosso and Williams who are not opposed to scoring some points and having a strong weekend, although Buemi does have a 5 place grid drop looming over him for the Heidfeld accident.
Down at the other end of the field Trulli should be back in the second Lotus car after Chandok's turn in Germany which should bring the green cars back up to full strength, and return the gap they have over Virgin racing and HRT in the battle over the newer cars. Ricciardo will be looking to avoid being last for the first time in qualifying - on pace anyway, only being off the back row due to penalties for others in Germany.
KERs and DRS
Will this years array of gizmos and devices make an impact on the outcome of the race, can they over-ride the single file nature of the track, and add a layer of excitement to a normally dull event. Well on balance probably not to be honest.
KERs will probably have the least impact on the outcome of the event with only limited opportunities to deploy the extra power it becomes much easier to defend against, given that each of the cars outside the bottom three teams has the system installed. In addition to it being used in conjunction to the DRS, KERs could prove useful on the exit of turn one to generate some extra drive off the corner to make a pass into two. However because this is in the early phase of the lap the car being attacked should have a sufficient amount of KERs power to defend the move and it's back to square one.
As for the DRS, unsurprisingly only one zone has been marked up on the layout - given there is only one possible area where the technology can be implemented on the track anyway. The detection line be placed before the entry to the final corner with the activation line 70 metres after the completion of the corner the DRS zone being the main straight. Which is the only reasonable place for overtaking to be conducted so may as well give them all the chances possible to change position, they certainly need the help.
On the whole the Hungarian GP, is not one of the points on the calendar that you mark out specially as being a must see. Because traditionally a grand total of nothing tends to happen throughout the race - even the support series have a tendency to struggle, although GP3 was decent last year. This makes the qualifying much more important than others in the season - the option of saving tyres and charging through the field when passing is a mythical concept. Which in theory should make qualifying more interesting then normal and probably more interesting than the race itself. However we can always hope for a different outcome and an eventful weekend will ensue with a strong and entertaining race on Sunday. Here's hoping indeed....
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